Posted: November 29, 2017

Seventeen care provider groups in the MIPS Collaborative to develop and share strategies, best practices

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – AMGA and Optum announced a collaborative to help care-provider organizations successfully implement the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) by enhancing quality of care, transforming operations, and improving their patients’ overall health.

MIPS is a payment track created under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which governs how physicians and other clinicians are paid under Medicare Part B. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), clinicians can receive payment adjustments by showing high performance in the areas of quality, advancing care information, improvement activities and cost.

The MIPS Collaborative focuses on helping 17 care-provider organizations achieve high performance in those areas.

“Participation in the MIPS Collaborative will help groups learn best practices and develop strategies to achieve success in all four MIPS domains,” said Jerry Penso, M.D., M.B.A., president at AMGA Foundation and chief medical and quality officer at AMGA. “We look forward to evaluating the successes of the 17 participating groups as they work to transform their organizations and improve patient care.”

“MACRA and MIPS have brought major changes to today’s health care environment. Partnerships like the MIPS Collaborative enable care-provider organizations to succeed by sharing information and best practices,” said Erik Johnson, vice president of value-based care, Optum Advisory Services.

The MIPS Collaborative creates a community of knowledge to help participants accelerate systematic change and make lasting breakthroughs in quality care and service that meet or exceed patient expectations. AMGA’s Best Practices Learning Collaboratives are shared-learning programs that compile evidence of best practices and are designed specifically for medical organizations striving to improve patient care and succeed in organizational transformation.

The participating care provider groups are:

Beaumont Health (Royal Oak, MI),

Billings Clinic (Billings, MT),

Carle Hospital (Urbana, IL),

Excela Health Medical Group (Greensburg, PA),

Genesis Medical Group (Bettendorf, IA),

Health Quest Medical Practice (Lagrangeville, NY),

Lexington Clinic (Lexington, KY),

Mayo Clinic Health System (Rochester, MN),

North Mississippi Medical Clinics (Tupelo, MS),

Northwell Health (Manhasset, NY),

OptumCare (Minnetonka, MN),

Prevea Health (Green Bay, WI),

Purchase Anesthesia (Paducah, KY),

St. Elizabeth Physicians (Crestview Hills, KY),

SwedishAmerican (Rockford, IL),

UNC Health Care (Chapel Hill, NC), and

WellMed Medical Group (San Antonio, TX).

The MIPS Collaborative began in March 2017 and will conclude in July 2018. The advisers include:

AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of health care in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of medical groups’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, cost-effective care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans. Learn more at amga.org.

About Optum

Optum is a leading information and technology-enabled health services business dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone. With more than 133,000 people worldwide, Optum delivers intelligent, integrated solutions that help to modernize the health system and improve overall population health. Optum is part of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH). For more information, visit www.optum.com.

AMGA and Optum Sustaining Partnership

The AMGA and Optum Sustaining Partnership is based on a shared vision to improve population health at a reduced cost. The partnership combines AMGA’s proven model for dynamic shared learning and proactive commitment to broadcast best practices with the power of Optum’s robust data and analytics to improve outcomes in high-performing health systems.